Gibraltar To Reopen Rock's Port Following Ship Fuel Spill

Gibraltar authorities said on Wednesday that the Rock’s port would reopen later in the day after the rules can get rid of most of the oil from a stricken vessel colliding in its bay area last week.

The government stated that some port operations are expected to resume on Wednesday night as part of a scaled reopening.

The government mentioned that the emergency status of the incident had been lifted since most of the fuel from the vessel was extracted.

The vessel had run aground in shallows after it collided on 29 August with another boat, triggering the fears of a massive oil spillage.

On Thursday, an unknown amount of fuel oil reportedly seeped from the ship, causing a slick. Since then, teams have been striving to clean the area and remove the oil on the vessel.

In that area, fishing has been prohibited. Several beaches of Gibraltar and one in Spain have not permitted bathing temporarily.

The Gibraltar government mentioned on Wednesday that there were zero reports of a significant amount of oil reaching the coast.

Operations were undertaken to remove the remaining fuel, and other materials from the ship are going on. Authorities are studying what to do with the ship’s structure once the operations are executed.

Gibraltar mentioned that the Tuvalu-registered OS 35 was loaded with about 250 tons of diesel.

Even after the initial spill, the 178-meter vessel still had about 183 tons of fuel oil and approximately 27 tons of lubricant oil in the tanks.

The ship was loaded with steel bars when it collided with an LNG carrier. The second vessel sustained negligible damage. No one suffered injuries in the collision.

Gibraltar is a well-known British territory on the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula. It is a busy fuel supply and shipping port.